In Dhamma practice we aim to establish positive roots that can nourish our everyday actions and behaviors. We train in setting aside what is unskillful and causes stress, and lingering in and strengthening factors for awakening. The 5 indriya offer a beneficial domain for such cultivation.

The function of mindfulness is to purify. It means we have to understand what purity is – what qualities cause problems, stress and contamination, an which are bright, fortifying and calming. Right view and right attitude inform the careful attention that leads to purification.

Mindfulness can be thought of as a boundary setter. It’s used to discern what to stay with and deepen into, and what to avoid and stay out of. Instructions are given for how to apply this to ānāpānasati, mindfulness of breathing.

The aim of Dhamma cultivation is penetration and purification of saṇkhārā – the conditioning forces. Everything else is to support that. Mindfulness of body provides a steady and pleasant foundation, samādhi acts as a refuge from sensory input. Mind then has the power to resist, moderate and release from these conditioning forces.

Citta needs something to settle on, to feel comfortable in. Use mindfulness to form a frame around what’s helpful and skillful and absorb into that. Citta begins to understand the agitation that both pleasure and displeasure cause, and can see something more fulfilling in the bareness of mind.

Practice is a whole life path. The conditions that arise and our reactions to them can all act as reference points for purification and practice. Careful cultivation of the conditioned is an aspect of the unconditioned and leads to the unconditioned.